Michelle Higgs's guide to the weird and wonderful world of Victorian England

Saturday, 13 December 2014

DAY 2: 12 DAYS OF VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS CARDS

Yesterday, I shared an image of a Victorian Christmas card featuring a scary-looking Father Christmas in a green cloak. Today, for day 2 of '12 Days of Victorian Christmas Cards', I'd like to show you a 'typical' design from the 1880s:

Copyright Michelle Higgs

Here, we have a rosy-cheeked child dressed for winter weather, out in the snow. Christmas cards featuring children were commonplace in the 1880s, partly because children made up a good proportion of the target market. As mentioned yesterday, Victorian toy shops were one of the types of retail outlet which sold Christmas cards.

Incidentally, at first, Victorian Christmas cards were not folded like modern versions; they were flat and the sender wrote a message on the reverse. It was not until the 1890s that the folded card became popular.